$55-million consolidated school request unanimous

The proposal calls for a new school on about 10 acres of the Taylor campus.

The most significant cost factor in this is time. If we wait another year, it could cost another $2.8 million . . . . I think we would not be serving the taxpayers well if we wait another year.

— School board Chairman Brian Gorg

School Board Proposal

• What: Consolidated middle school on Taylor campus, along East Shirley Avenue in Warrenton.

• Estimated cost: $55.3 million.

• Timeline: 3 years, 11 months.

• Capacity: 1,000 students.

• Details: Taylor would be demolished and replaced with a new building behind the adjacent Warrenton Community Center, near Brumfield Elementary. The plan might include a shared bus loop with Brumfield and a separate entrance for other vehicles. Taylor’s existing site would get used for sports fields. Warrenton Middle School on Waterloo Street would get repurposed.

By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)Staff Journalist

Fauquier’s school board will seek $55 million to build a 1,000-seat consolidated middle school in Warrenton.

The five board members unanimously agreed to that plan Tuesday night.

The county board of supervisors will consider the funding request, starting as soon as its Capital Improvements Plan “retreat” at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Vint Hill.

The school board request includes $3.3 million to start engineering and design of the new building in fiscal 2018, which starts July 1.

Slated to adopt a budget March 23, the supervisors quickly would need to reach agreement with the school board for the proposal to meet that schedule.

The plan calls for construction of two-story, 159,000-square-foot building on the Taylor Middle School campus along East Shirley Avenue. The new school would replace Taylor and Warrenton Middle School.

It would open in 2021.

The plan calls for three years of construction funding:

• $14.4 million in fiscal 2019.

• $25.4 million in 2020.

• $12.2 million in 2021.

> Proposed schools capital plan at bottom of story

“This is what we need money for and we need it now,” school board member Donna Grove (Cedar Run District) said at a Tuesday night work session.

“The most significant cost factor in this is time,” Chairman Brian Gorg (Center) said. “If we wait another year, it could cost another $2.8 million” because of inflation. “I think we would not be serving the taxpayers well if we wait another year.”

School board members decided to take proposed expansions of Auburn Middle School near New Baltimore and M.M. Pierce Elementary in Remington out of their proposed CIP.

“Looking at (middle school) student projections, it’s flat or declining through 2026-27,” Duke Bland (Marshall) said. “I would like to see Auburn move back two years” to 2023.

The board has considered a 300-seat addition to Auburn, which would provide more flexibility in drawing attendance boundaries.

Originally in favor of the 900-student consolidated middle school on the Taylor site along with with the Auburn addition, Mr. Gorg changed his mind Tuesday night.

“The capacity is not what we need right now,” he said. “If we use Auburn now and build a 900-student school now, then we may be overbuilding for our capacity.

“That 6 million to 8 million (for an Auburn addition), we may need for renovations. I would rather put that money into renovation/asset replacement than an Auburn (addition), which we might not use,” Mr. Gorg said.

The school board formally will adopt its proposed capital plan at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13.